The invention relates to a frame, especially a quick-change frame for photographs, which can be joined modularly to other frames of the same kind to form a panel of frames or pictures.
For aesthetic reasons, people like to hang small-size picture frames, which are used, for example, as quick-change frames for photographs, together in groups, so as to arouse the impression, despite the small individual subjects, of a larger picture surface. Practically speaking, it is difficult and time-consuming to hang a great number of individual frames on a wall in such a manner that the frame sides are in line with one another or abutting one another. When the picture frames are hung singly, each frame needs its own hanger in the form at least of a nail on the wall. The wall is therefore relatively greatly damaged, depending on the number of pictures that are hung. The damage becomes undesirably apparent whenever the arrangement of the pictures is altered or reduced in size.
It has been the practice, therefore, to arrange and fasten several photographs side by side in a single large-size frame. The individual pictures are mounted either by suitable adhesives or by gripping them between a clear front glass and the back wall of the frame. Both the arranging and the mounting of a plurality of individual pictures in a single frame is difficult and time-consuming, and there is a risk that the pictures in the frame may shift out of place due to external vibration.
It is also known to join together a plurality of frames in rows and/or columns by means of separate, chain-like locking elements. The placement of the separate locking elements between adjacent frames and the precise alignment of the joined frames with one another also requires considerable effort in attaching the frame assemblage to a wall, and the separate locking elements themselves interfere with the opening and closing of the individual frames for the replacement of the pictures or subjects.
It is therefore the object of the invention to create modular frames which can easily and rapidly be joined together to form an assemblage on a wall and be altered in their relative arrangement, without additional aids or separate locking elements.
It is another aim of the invention to construct the frame sides such that the frames can be joined together to form a largely continuous, board-like unit, even when the side lengths are different.